We all love to be as little children: to see colorful animals and play with tinker toys. And if we have young kids or grandchildren, it can be a great joy to travel the city and see so many examples of toys, painted tigers, and kaleidoscopic shades and tints at our obvious points of interest. This is the state of our public art in San Jose: colorful, playful, and totally one dimensional. There has to be more in a city and its description of itself as evidenced in her adopted pubic art program. There is a pivotal question though: Are we mature and confident enough to reflect this as a statement of who we are?
I hope the answer is “yes.”
Let’s get one thing clear: when we put up a statue or other piece of art, it does not take away from parks, libraries, or cops. That is a specious argument used by demagogues or fools. The question is: What “type” of art should we create and what legacy do we wish to leave for future generations?
Admittedly, the honoring of our history is a vexing subject and one that has often paralyzed our city, such as with the Captain Fallon controversy and the Quetzalcoatl furor. I think we are ready to go beyond those episodes as well as the “tinker toy” phase of San Jose’s art. To have these cute, but hollow, pieces of art outside our City Hall is a tremendous missed opportunity. There, at the forum where our citizens and elected leaders communicate, we should have a testimony to the men and woman who built our city and the significant events that have shaped San Jose.
It will not be easy to change the course of public art in the city. It will take courage and common sense— virtues not always present in the halls of our city government. Yet, it can’t be that hard. Our arts and historical commissions should be charged with developing a list of people to be honored. Simultaneously, the events that have been pivotal to our development and progress as a city should be added. Tell it honestly, warts and all. For just as the sorrowful internment of our Japanese-American citizens is a cautionary tale for those who want to learn, and the sprawl of yesterday can inform the decision of today, so too can we learn by the decisions and lives of our fathers and mothers—the good and the bad. This has always been a time-honored tradition in the teaching of American history. It should be true here too and made a staple of San Jose’s education.
And I have one place to start. During a recent visit to Philadelphia, I saw a statue of former Mayor Frank Rizzo. He is known as a controversial former chief of police who uttered the quite mortal phrase: “Our streets are not dangerous; it’s the people on them that make them dangerous.” Tell your history honestly—there is much to learn.
I believe that a statue to Janet Gray Hayes, the first woman mayor of a major American city, would be a good start. She began the attempt to rein in sprawl, and hired the architect of much that is good in our city’s downtown, Frank Taylor. Start with her because she deserves it. But don’t end there. Make this a San Jose tradition: respect the past and honor those who became before us.
Tom,
The San Jose Sate Gateways and the Tommy Smith / John Carlos sculptures are excellant examples of what should take place thru out our city.
I have been blessed with the skills to turn sand, ingots and imagination into Hope. Every bronze face has a beautiful story.
I encouraged one individule to allow me to capture the likeness of he and his wife for the one of the gate ways. I succeeded by explaning to him that donating money was not enough. He had the responcibility to put a face on his generousity.
For the next 100 years, hundreds of thousands of students will memorize the many faces that exist on the gateways. They will take the message with them thru out their lives.
“Some one made it possible for me to succeed”
Let’s start a New Bronze Age In san Jose today.
My thoughts have always been to put a human face on Philantrophy,Sports Education,Science, & Serving Humanity.
Thru out my 27 years of casting in San Jose, I’ve lost count of the many heros and loved ones we have cast permanently in bronze.
In the Main Library in the California Room, one can see Adolf Phister, two time mayor and acredited with Alum Rock Park and our Symphony.
John Balbach forging his first plow is on the corner directly across the street from the Metro News. A brave young man Pat Tillman is forever remembered in New Almaden. Former Mayor Al Ruffo, Jim Plunket Bill Walsh are all prominently viewed at the HP Pavilion Hall of Fame.
I would be so wise of our leaders of today, to take this view of honoring those that we hope to inspire us and our children thruout our lives and beyond.
For this to happen, the politics of Art must let go. Or we will be doomed to repeat what we have today. Visionaries, are everywhere amonst us. Anything is possible is we have honor and trust in our abilities to validate and embrace our past and focus it to become our new future.
The Village Black Smith
Can anyone advise on how the then-Council vote breaks down re: approving the “parade of floats” installation? Did any Council member state that “art” of this particular nature was entirely unfitting and incongruent with a bazillion dollar modernistic City Hall? The entire motley, amateur parade belongs over at Happy Hollow where the children it appeals to can enjoy it. The parade ranks right up there with the turd for bad public art decisions. I’d like to know if any Council member(s) at the time voted against this installation and who they were. They would get points for at least trying to avoid this tinker toy trainwreck.
What happened to the Shark sculptures that used to be found around downtown?
The sharks were temporary and were auctioned off. I think there are at least a couple of them located downtown now, inside instead of outside but I’ve forgotten where.
Some of the sharks were vandalized while out on display. Apparently we’re not quite sophisticated enough here in the world’s largest suburb for public art to be receive proper respect and appreciation from all parts of the community.
That’s disappointing – it was fun to round a corner and see a theme-shark of some sort.
I say let’s do the sharks again.
Only this time we equip the sharks with frickin’ laser beams.
People who assert that spending tax dollars on public art takes away from other City responsibilities may indeed be demagogues, but it’s hard to deny that the City does a deplorable job of taking care of it’s own streets, sidewalks, and parks. And when City officials are reminded of this they never fail to tell us about the “structural deficit”, and how they just don’t have enough money.
As a long suffering taxpayer in San Jose I’d far rather see our Government concentrate on making San Jose a better place for those of us who live here and stop worrying so much about trying to fool the rest of the world into thinking we’re a “big league city”.
Three SharkByte Art sharks are or will be permanently displayed publicly in or around the Northside neighborhood:
The sushi shark can be seen at its temporary digs at Uchida Travel in Japantown. It should eventually end up in a place of honor in the San Jose Taiko performance center proposed as part of the development on the old City Corporation Yard in Japantown.
The “School of Neighbors” shark commissioned by the Downtown Neighborhood Leadership Forum (DNLF) to reflect the diversity and vibrancy of downtown neighborhoods will be on permanent display again inside the new Joyce Ellington Branch Library when it re-opens on June 28.
And come to a 13th St. NAC (Strong Neighborhoods Initiative) meeting at the Watson Park annex to see the skateboard shark in its temporary digs pending the remediation of Watson Park and the opening of an eventual skatepark there sometime in the next few years.
Wasn’t Pellier Park created for the bicentennial of San Jose, Alta California’s first civil settlement in 1777? I know a commemorative postage stamp was issued back then with the Peralta Adobe on it.
I agree that Pellier Park should be restored even though access to it is difficult. It would also provide something more interesting to look down on for the folks who are buying City Heights condos. The city needs to hold developers accountable. Barry Swenson and his father Carl before him seem to have express rubber-stamp treatment working in their favor at City Hall.
Mark T
Gee, of all the developers to be angry at, I would not put Barry, his Dad, Cliff, and grandfather, Carl, on that list. They have rehabilitated many historic bldg. in San Jose – the historic village, and others. They have kept faith in the Downtown when most others fled. They “will” return Pellier Park to a more historic setting shortly and they are awaiting the City to give them the “OK” on the plans they have already done. They are not the problem. They are a big part of the solution and Martin Menne, who runs the project is right on top of this. TMcE
I suggest that we honor local agriculture pioneers Louis and Pierre Pellier by insisting that the developer who vandalized Pellier Park (behind the Fallon stature) must honor his agreement with the city and restore the park to its previous state—historical exhibits, prune orchard and all. (The park was originally created as a Bicentennial Project celebrating the 200th anniversary of the United States—surely another reason not to allow it to be turned into a wasteland.)
This would have the advantage that it should not cost the City anything, as the developer has already promised to do the work.
I didn’t remember which developer it was, as it is now some years since this all started. I agree that the Swensons are not nearly as bad as some others on these kinds of issues.
If they are going to restore the Park, then that’s a good resolution. However it’s been sitting empty for quite a long time, and this is the first I’ve heard about addressing the situation, despite having made several enquiries.
As far as what it was the bicentennial of, I didn’t live here in 1977, so I was going by the sign that used to be on it, which just stated it was a “bicentennial project”. I assumed it must have been one of the many bicentennial project that happened all over the country in 1976. But the bicentennial of the founding of San Jose is worth celebrating too.